Friday, March 5, 2010

I'm still keeping all of my old photographs in a cardboard Huggies Diaper Wipes box. How sad, right? They're all crammed in there, piled on top of each other, some getting ruined I'm sure. I need to get actual photo storage boxes. Every week I have to pull them all out to find the picture I want, and then the pictures start to pile up inside and on top of the scanner, because I don't want to go back to the Huggies box to try to put them away, knowing that they're going to slide right off of the top of the pile anyways. What I've started doing, is pulling out multiple photos at once, and planning ahead. There are so many images held captive in that little box, I have so many memories to choose from. But even with the choice of a thousand memories- I still have my favorites, and I still dig for them.

When Eleanore was born, I lived alone. Christopher was going through his Air Force Tech School at Sheppard AFB, and wasn't allowed to live with me. I had moved from Washington to Texas (would you believe I drove across country, while 6 months pregnant, with my mother in law?), and I lived in a small ghetto style apartment, furnished with the most uncomfortable "rustic" furniture (the landlord's words, not mine)- completely alone.

About two weeks after Elie was born, while I was in the middle of completely losing my mind, just as postpartum depression was starting to settle in- my very best friend in the entire world, Kalii, came to visit.

Kalii and I met in our high school PE/Dance class. She dropped out of the class not too far into it, and since we didn't have any other classes together, we never ran into each other. We ended up having a study hall type class together the next semester, and while we weren't best friends at the time, we did sit together and occasionally crack jokes about things that weren't actually funny. A year or so later, we bumped into each other at a show at the Roseland Theater in Portland, both of us had gone alone, and from that day forth, we pretty much never left each others side. I will never be able to describe the connection that Kalii and I have. I trust her with my life. I trust her with my children's lives.

Kalii is the godmother to both Eleanore and Charlie, and will also be godmother to the bean, after he/she is born.

Kalii has come to visit us in Texas more than anybody else. She came when Elie was born (pictured above), she came for my first art show, and she came last year for my birthday.

I have a hard time talking to her without crying. I miss her more than I miss my own parents. Other than Christopher, I'm closer to her than anybody I've ever known. I can tell her anything. We've only fought once, and wouldn't you guess, it was over a boy- but not in the way that you might think. We can sit and watch movies like Homeward Bound together. We can laugh over nothing, so hard that we cry and make our stomachs hurt. She loves me and my family the way that a sister would. Shes more than a friend. Shes my best friend. My trueBff. The most beautiful, and strongest woman that I've ever met. Nobody else will ever compare.

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Want to play along? Share a picture of your best friend with us? Maybe just a friend? Or if you don't have an old photo that goes along with this weeks theme, share any old picture with us, the theme is totally optional anyways. You don't need to have a blog, you can post your Flashback on your facebook, twitpic, myspace, wherever. Just make sure to add your link to the list below, and add our link to your post. You can use our fancy "Flashback Friday" button (which can be found wayyyy down at the bottom of our page, below all of our posts), or you can do it the old fashioned text link style- its up to you. The more players, the merrier! Can't wait to see every ones flashbacks this week!

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comments:

What a cool picture! You are so very lucky to have a precious BFF like that. I've had some really awesome friends, some who I consider some of my best friends, but I can't really point to one BFF who has always been right there with me through it all.

My bff has been in my life since we were in diapers. So I completely understand the sister like attachment. Great photo! Great story... and driving from WA to Texas, being preggers, AND with your mother in law... brave!